


Avengers Academy

by crazy_fandoms_girl



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-07-05 10:51:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 19,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15862146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazy_fandoms_girl/pseuds/crazy_fandoms_girl
Summary: What if the Avengers went to highschool? Follow along as Natasha goes to school for the first time in her life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I thought this would be fun to try. I've read some fanfics before about the Avengers going to school so I decided to give it a try. Also I know this chapter kinda sucks but I promise the next one will be better. I'll introduce new characters.

Natasha ducked around the corner as she saw another police officer. She knew that if she was spotted she would get into serious trouble.

The police officer came around the corner when he saw Natasha run off. When he got to her hiding place he looked down on the fifteen year old girl and sighed.

"You should be in school, young lady." The police officer said.

"But I already graduated." Natasha lied.

"If there's anything I'm good at it's being able to tell when people lie. You are lying. Come with me." He told her.

She sighed and looked up at him from behind her red curls. He had an irritated look on his face. She stood up from her crouching position behind some trashcans and followed him to his car.

He opened the back door for her so she could slide in. Natasha rolled her eyes and sighed as he closed the door.

'If he takes me to a school I swear I'm going to rip his head off' she thought to herself. Natasha had never been in a school and the mere thought of it made her cringe. She had no friends or family she could go to for help, besides Fury though he didn't ever have time for her, so she was in this for herself. If there was anything good that came from the Red Room it was that she had learned how to fend for herself.

Natasha shuddered as thoughts of the Red Room entered her mind. She shook them out of her head as the police officer came into the car to drive her to wherever he was going.

She looked out the window as they passed all kinds of sky scrapers and people. When the police officer rounded another corner, Natasha saw the building of the school. It looked like it was a private school and she wondered how he was supposed to get her in. She wasn't a student so what was he thinking?

The building itself was quite impressive. It was at least three stories high and had windows spread everywhere. You could see the students and teachers sitting at their desks. In the front of the school was two big double doors with the schools 'WB' intertwined on them. A sign stood next to the gate that surrounded the school. It said: 'Brooklyn New York's West Bridge Private Academy' on it. The police pulled up to the gate that allowed people onto the school grounds and entered a pin into it. When the car got on the school grounds Natasha saw none other than the famous Nick Fury come out of the school.

As Natasha stepped out of the car, Fury stepped towards her.

"Miss Romanoff. I have sent this undercover agent to retrieve you. I've decided that, for your own good, you will go to school. You know your basic math and how to read so I think you will be good in your grade that you're supposed to be in." He told her.

"I don't need to go to school Fury." Natasha huffed.

"You know the consequences if you don't listen." Fury said watching her with his one good eye.

Natasha rolled her eyes and turned around to watch the under cover agent, or the 'police officer' drive away.

"I got you an apartment not far from here. You can walk to and from school everyday. Here is the key." Fury said, handing Natasha the key.

Natasha looked down at the key in her hands. Fury could tell she was clearly irritated but he didn't really care. All that mattered was that he was doing the right thing for her and he knew that.

"If you'll follow me, I'll take you to your apartment." He said.

Natasha followed him back down to the gate. He taught her the pin and they started down towards the apartments. When they got there, Fury showed her where her room was and left her outside the door.

Natasha looked around the hallway, took a deep breath and entered the apartment.

It was a lot nicer than she would have thought. It had a good sized living room with couches and TV. To the right of the living room there was a small kitchen. On the left side there was a halfway with two doors. She opened the first one to find a small bathroom. The other one contained her bedroom.

As she sat down on the couch, a paper caught her eye. It had a list of the classes that she would be attending. Lucky for her, she was only a day late for the start of school after summer. She set the paper down and settled into the couch to take a small nap. As she drifted off to sleep, thoughts and fears about school filled her head and dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in this chapter, I'll introduce a few of the avengers. There will also be a lot of characters like Loki, Pepper Pots, Valkyrie (If I add her in the story, she might have a different name but I still haven't decided.) Peter Parker (Maybe) etc, in future chapters. I'm also thinking of giving Natasha a crush/love interest but I'm not sure who it will be. Be warned: I'm a big Blackfrost/Natoki shipper.

Natasha woke suddenly as someone knocked on her apartment door. She got up from the couch, quickly made her hair look more decent and opened the door up.

"Hello, miss Romanoff."

"Hello Coulson." Natasha blandly said as she saw who it was. She wondered what in the world Phil could want.

"Fury wanted me to deliver your school uniform. He just bought it for you." Coulson said, handing her a big bag full of clothes.

"Thanks!" She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You're welcome!" Coulson happily replied, either ignoring the sarcasm or being completely oblivious to it.

"Bye." She said, closing the door in his face. She wasn't in a very good mood today so she didn't want to talk to anyone.

Natasha went back to the couch, sat down and looked at the bag of clothes in her hands. She pulled the zipper down to take a look at its contents. There were three black and white plaid skirts hanging from the hangers attached to the bag. From the looks of them Natasha assumed that they came right above the knees. Accompanying the skirts was three white button up shirts with collars and behind the shirts was three black blazers. In the bottom of the bag Natasha found some white knee high socks, a pair of black shoes and a few black ties.

Natasha sighed as she looked at all of this. She had no desire what so ever to go to school. All this happened because of Fury. Natasha decided at that moment she would never talk to Fury again. For that matter, she would never talk to anyone she knew again. She wouldn't even talk to the other kids at school or try to make friends just so that she could make Fury mad.

She laughed to herself. Maybe she was being a little bit dramatic. Maybe she would like school? Maybe it wasn't as bad as people made it seem.

Then again, it could be the worst nightmare of her entire life. Natasha shuddered at the thought. She had had enough nightmares in her past, even though she was only fifteen years old. When Fury had found her, her nightmarish life started to stop but that didn't mean that the nightmares didn't haunt her. They would always come back in her dreams or in her memories. A thought crossed Natasha's brain that maybe school would help her forget and keep her mind busy. Like she thought before, maybe she would like school. And maybe, just maybe, she would make friends.

Natasha snorted at the thought. She would never make friends. She leaned forward from the couch and grabbed the TV remote from the coffee table in front of her and turned the TV on. After hacking into Fury's Netflix account she went to the fridge in the kitchen to see what there was to eat She quickly made herself a salad and went to watch TV for the rest of the night. At about eight o'clock, Natasha set an alarm on her phone and curled up on the couch and fell into an uneasy slumber.

The next morning Natasha woke up to the sound of an alarm going off. She had almost forgotten about school and was about to turn the alarm back off and go back to sleep when she saw the bag of clothes sitting in front of her. She sighed and got up taking one of everything from the bag and walking to the bathroom to shower. After she showered she dressed in her new clothes and dried her hair. She took a hair pin and fastened it to one side of her hair so it would stay out of her face. She applied a minimal amount of makeup after finding that Fury had sent all her stuff to her apartment before she moved in.

Natasha looked at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. Today was the first day of school and she couldn't calm her heart. She was also having trouble breathing as well and the itchy, stuffy clothes weren't helping.

After getting her bags, books and phone together and after eating a pop tart or two, she left her apartment to go to school.

The walk to school was a short one. When Natasha was at the crosswalk waiting for it to tell her it was okay to walk across the street, two boys in school uniforms that looked her age came and stood by her. One had short blonde hair and one had medium brown hair.

"I agree, Bucky. Maybe next year." The blonde was saying.

The other just nodded his head and crossed the street. Natasha had barely noticed that it was time to cross the street so she had to run across, following the boys to the other side. When they got to the gate one of the boys entered the pin and they all walked in. Unlike yesterday, the school grounds were crowded. It was like walking through the sea itself trying to get to the doors. While Natasha was trying to get through the storm of people, she wasn't paying attention to who was in front of her. She bumped into a boy with slicked back, black shoulder length hair and emerald green eyes. When he turned to see who had bumped into him, he regarded Natasha with coldly.

"Sorry." She said picking her bag up.

The boy rolled his eyes, turned around and walked away leaving Natasha to pick herself up.

"What a gentleman." She muttered under her breath.

Natasha stood up and brushed the dirt off her skirt. When she bent down to pick the rest of her books up the blonde boy from the crosswalk came over and helped her.

"Hi! You must be new to West Bridge. I've never seen you here before. I'm Steven Rodgers but you can call me Steve." He said as he picked the books up for her.

"Hello Steve! I'm Natasha. Thanks for helping me out." Natasha said, taking the books from him.

"Yep. I'm glad I can help. See ya." He said as he walked away to go to his brown haired friend who had watched the whole thing.

Suddenly the bell rang letting the students know it was time for morning classes. All the students rushed towards the door and two girls ran past Natasha and nocked her over.

"Oops sorry." One girl with blonde hair laughed.

"Come on Catrina, stop talking to the trash. You know it can't reply." Her brunette friend said.

The one called Catrina laughed. She looked Natasha up and down not even trying to hide the disgust from her face.

"You're right Liz. Let's go." She said laughing again and walking off with her snooty friend.

Natasha sighed and picked her books up for the second time today. Life was going to be hard here and she knew it. She just hoped she could survive it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter! So this chapter introduces the characters from the last chapter a bit more. Natasha will get to meet some new ones and get to know some of the others names. But I don't know. I'm just kinda making this up as I go so it sort of sucks. I really need to get a plot together. Also I have no idea what a private school is like. I'm assuming it's kinda like regular school but I'm not sure. I apologize for how long this took to publish. I had really bad writers block. :(

If Natasha thought that the outside of the school school was crowded she now considered it empty. The inside was filled up with the kids coming in at the same time. They all tried to shove past each other and get to their classes.

Natasha glanced down at the schedule. She had English for her first period. It went from 7:30 to 8:20. After finding out where the room was located, she glanced up and saw the black haired boy she had bumped into earlier. With her great luck, she saw him a little too late and ran into him again.

"I am so sorry. I keep bumping into you today." She said, having to look up to see his face.

"Well maybe it would help if you look where you are going." He replied coldly.

Natasha sighed and walked into the class room. It turns out that she was in the same class with him.

"Good morning students. As most of you know, my name is Mrs. Jones. Today we have a new student with us. What's your name?" She asked Natasha.

"My name is Natasha Romanoff." She replied.

"Good. Now I don't know how other teachers do this introducing thing but all I want you to do is name three facts about yourself." The teacher said.

Natasha felt all the eyes in the class looking at her. It was making it hard for her to think. What was interesting about her though? It's not like she could tell them about her being an ex assassin. They would all hate her.

"um, I like to read, I was...born in Russia and uh...this is my first ever time at school." She stuttered out.

"Thank you, Natasha! You may go sit down by Loki." Mrs. Jones said gesturing to the empty desk next to the black haired boy.

Natasha walked slowly over to the desk. She felt quite uncomfortable sitting next to him. And of course with her luck she would be. She sighed as she pulled out her books for the lesson and read along. What she didn't know was every time she was looking down at her books, Loki was watching her.

Finally when English class was over she slowly walked to her next class while glancing down at her schedule. He next class was history.

After introducing her self, she sat between Steve and another guy with golden, shoulder length hair.

"Hello. I am Thor." The golden haired one said.

"It's nice to meet you Thor. You already know I'm Natasha." She said, smiling at him.

"How are you liking school?" Steve whispered, leaning over to Natasha.

"It's okay, I guess." Natasha said turning towards him.

Steve blushed furiously when Natasha looked him in the eye. "That's good." He simply said, turning back to face the teacher to cover the blush.

"Hey. What's up new kid?" Natasha heard a voice say from behind her.

Natasha turned to see who it was. Her eyes were met by a pair of dark brown ones. The guy who had spoken had a cocky grin on his face.

"The name's Tony. Tony Stark." He said while smiling at her.

Natasha looked him up and down then turned around to concentrate on the lesson.

"So you're from Russia. What's it like there? Why is your hair so red? Wanna go out with me? Where are you staying?" He kept pestering her with questions.

"Mr. Stark. Do you have something to tell the whole class?" The teacher finally asked. Natasha smirked at the reaction on Tony's face.

"No sir." Tony muttered loud enough for the teacher to hear.

Natasha tried not to laugh but she didn't do a very good job of it. Every eye was on her as she burst out laughing. The only thing that finally stopped her was the teachers glare.

The hours past slowly as class after class dragged on. Natasha could have sworn that in that time she could have been doing something more productive.

Finally when lunch came Natasha made her way to the school cafeteria. After getting her food she turned to find a place to sit and saw Steve waving at her. She waived back and walked over to him.

"Hi. You wanna sit here with us?" He asked.

"Sure. Thanks." She replied, smiling at him.

He bushed for the second time today. "Yeah. I thought it would be nice for all of us to get to know you. You already know that this is Thor and this is Tony. I don't know if you've met Pepper yet." He said, gesturing to a ginger haired girl.

"Hi it's nice to meet you." Pepper said.

"This is Clint and this is Bruce." Steve continued pointing to the last two people.

"Hi." Clint said.

"It's nice to meet you." Bruce said, looking up from his book for just on second.

"Everyone, this is Natalia. She's in history class with Thor, Tony and I so that's how I know her." Steve said.

The people at the table smiled at Natasha and made room so that she could sit.

"Now if only my brother would come and sit with us. You might like him though he is shy around strangers." Thor said.

"You have a brother?" Natasha asked.

"Yes. His name is Loki." Thor said.

"You're Loki's brother? Why are you so nice?" Natasha said without thinking.

"He's adopted." Thor laughed. "Oh and look! Here he comes now."

Natasha turned to see the tall black haired figure walking towards them. She frowned, remembering how rude he was to her. She really didn't want to have to talk to him right now. As soon as Loki saw her watching, she turned her head and didn't look at him for the sake of being a snot. That's how it went throughout all of lunch. She wouldn't look or talk to him. Loki noticed her strange behavior so he acted the same way.

Finally when the last hours of school past away, Natasha walked out of the school to start heading home. She entered the pin into the gate and walked out.

"Hey! Wait!" A voice said from behind her.

Natasha turned to see who it was finding none other than Pepper, who she found out after lunch was quite popular.

"Hey Pepper. What's up?" Natasha asked.

"I just never got your phone number. I meant to ask after we ate but you ran off in such a hurry." Pepper replied.

"Oh um, do you have a piece of paper or something I can write on?" She asked.

"Yes actually." Pepper said, pulling a small scrap of paper out of her pocket. Natasha wondered why the crap she would have scarps of paper in her pockets but she wasn't going to ask.

Natasha took the paper from Pepper outstretched hand and wrote her number down. When she looked up again, Pepper had another paper in her hands with her number and name written on it.

"As soon as you get home, text me." Pepper said excitedly. "See ya!"

"Bye." Natasha said before turning back to go home.

Natasha never knew how happy someone could be at home. There was no drama. No bullies. And most importantly, no Lokis. After a quick trip to her bedroom, Natasha was back in her normal comfortable clothes. After doing her homework, and texting Pepper, she sat on the couch and watched TV for the rest of the night. She was not excited for school tomorrow and that was a fact.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter. I hope you guys like it! Also, sorry about how long this took to publish. I had a way busy week.   
>  Please comment and tell me what you think.

When Natasha woke up the next morning, she almost forgot where she was. She slowly sat up, looking around confused when it finally hit her. The nightmare called school had happened yesterday. She was at her apartment and this time in her bedroom not on the couch.

As she stood up, she unplugged the phone that was sitting next too her on her night stand. As she turned it on her heart skipped a beat. It was 8:00. She was supposed to be up an hour and a half ago. She practically flew to her closet and pulled her school uniform on. She had no time to get showered. She ran into the bathroom and brushed her hair, pulling her red curls into a ponytail. After her hair was up she put on a little bit of mascara, tied her shoes on and grabbed something to eat from the kitchen. She grabbed her phone and left the apartment.

When Natasha got to the cross walk she didn't even wait for it to tell her it was safe to cross. She ran straight into traffic and finally reached the other side. She entered the pin at the gate and walked into the empty school grounds. She ran into the school building and into her English class.

"Hello miss Romanoff. You're late, why?" Mrs. Jones asked.

"I'm so so sorry. I didn't mean to be late. I forgot to set my alarm." Natasha apologized.

The teacher sighed. "And where are your books, miss Romanoff?" The teacher questioned.

Natasha's heart froze. She glanced around as if looking for them. She didn't grab her backpack.

"I must have forgotten them." Natasha said in a quite voice as the whole class laughed at her.

"Just please go sit down and try to follow along." Mrs. Jones said.

Natasha nodded and walked over to her desk while all the students eyes followed her. She was going to be the laughing stalk of the school. As she sat down, Loki's cold eyes regarded her.

"Would you like to use my books?" Loki asked after a few minutes.

Natasha looked up at him in surprise. Was Loki being nice? To her?

"Um..yes? I guess. Thank you." Natasha said.

Loki smiled. LOKI SMILED! Natasha shook her head. Was he smiling? Was she blushing? What was wrong with her stomach? She looked away as he handed her the books, her face growing warmer by the second.

"Thanks." She mumbled quietly.

"Okay students, like I said before, please pay attention. Tomorrow I will be announcing a project that we will do in groups of two. I'll explain more tomorrow." Mrs. Jones was saying.

But whatever Mrs. Jones was saying, Natasha didn't hear. All she was worried about was calming her heart down. She had to get rid of these useless feelings like the butterfly's in her stomach and the heat in her face.

After just a few more minutes of class the bell rang telling them all to go to the next one. All the students headed out to the hallways so that they could leave. Natasha felt a light tap on her shoulder. As she turned around there stood the one and only Loki. She gave him a puzzled look and he just smiled at her.

"Do you need something?" She asked.

"Yes. You still have my books." Loki replied.

She started at him like he said something in a foreign language.

"My books please." Loki said.

"Oh yeah. Sorry. Here." Natasha said, handing him his books.

"Thank you." Loki told her before walking past her and into the hallways.

Natasha stood there dumbfounded. Why was he being so nice all of a sudden?

After shaking her head a few times, Natasha walked out of the class and wandered into her history class. After sitting down between Thor and Steve, the teacher started on his lecture about the first civil war.

"Hi." Steve whispered next to Natasha.

"Hi Steve. How are you?" Natasha asked.

"I'm good. You?" Steve questioned, while having a hard time looking at Natasha in fear that he would blush.

"I'm good. Thanks." Natasha answered.

"That's good. How was your first class?" He asked.

"It was fine. I woke up late this morning and forgot my books. I'm planing on running to my apartment to grab them at lunch break." Natasha replied.

"I'll come with you." Steve volunteered.

"Oh it's okay. You don't have to." She told him.

"I want to though. That is if you're okay with me coming." Steve said.

Natasha sat there thinking. She really did like Steve but she didn't know how she felt about him coming to her apartment.

"Fine you can come." She said, deciding to just be nice to him.

Steve smiled shyly before turning back to the teachers. When he was facing away from Natasha she felt a small tap on her shoulder. When she turned to see who it was, she was met by a smiling Tony.

"You know, I think somebody has a crush on you." He said while grinning widely.

"Who?" Natasha asked.

Tony rolled his eyes. "You are so oblivious. It Steve. Duh." Tony said.

"Steve has a crush on me?" Natasha whispered.

"Yes. I just told you that. Are you deft?" Tony asked.

"No I'm not. I just can't believe it. You're just making stuff up." Natasha told him.

"If that's what you want to think." Tony said while shaking his head and leaning back in his seat.

Natasha rolled her eyes and turned back to face the teacher. She really, really, didn't like Tony. He was the most annoying person she had ever met.

Finally when the bell rang Natasha went to he next class. This one was the worst out of all of them. The reason being was because of her. The girl who bullied her on the first day. The only other person in this class that she knew was Steve's friend Bucky. They really didn't have much of a chance to talk so she couldn't say she knew him knew him. She did think he was cute though.

Natasha shook her head. She didn't have time to think of people as 'cute'. It was a huge waste. It's not like he would notice her. She was just, well, her. Why would someone like him pay any attention to her.

As she walked to her desk, she forced the thoughts to exit her brain. She had to concentrate because this class was what she sucked at. Math. Natasha swore that the teachers only taught math to punish them. 'Why learn math when you can use a calculator?' she thought to herself. But not everyone shared her view on that. Like the teachers. They obviously didn't care.

"Good morning students. Please open your math book to lesson three." The teacher said once everyone was seated.

"Hey Nat. What are you up to besides being a piece of trash?" A familiar and annoying voice whispered from behind her.

"Just leave me alone Catrina. I really don't want to hurt you." Natasha said.

"Oh you know you wouldn't hurt me. You are too scared of the principal like all the others are." Catrina said.

"Look, if you don't stop I will not hesitate to hurt you." Natasha said.

Catrina laughed. "You know, I have a very rich family who could get you kicked out of this school in a matter of minutes."

"You know, that wouldn't be too bad." Natasha replied back, turning to face the teacher.

"You're just saying that." Catrina said. She was clearly out of good comebacks.

Natasha rolled her eyes and concentrated on the lesson. Since she didn't have her books, all she could do was listen.

The minutes passed slowly as Catrina tried everything in her power to bother Natasha. She even succeeded a few times. The teacher even told Natasha that if she kept her attitude up she would be visiting the principal soon.

Finally the bell rang and Natasha rushed out to the hallways. After another class, Natasha walked through the hallways and instead of going to lunch, she met Steve outside the school building to start there journey to get her books.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter. I hope you all like it! I think that it helps in what little plot I have developed but I don't know. 
> 
> So I'm going to try to publish a new chapter every Friday night/Saturday morning. If I do that it gives me quite a few days to write and get it all ready.
> 
> Please comment and tell me what you think.

You ready to go?" Steve asked Natasha when he saw her coming towards him.

"Yep." Natasha said. She honestly wasn't looking forward to this at all.

"Good!" Steve said through a huge smile on his face.

Natasha smiled back and they headed towards the gate. After entering the pin they ran across the road and down towards Natasha's apartment.

"Wow. You must like walking down this road everyday." Steve commented as he looked around the street. The grass next to the sidewalk they were walking on had tons of beautiful trees. They were starting to change color as fall dawned on them making them even more beautiful to the sight.

"Yeah. I do." Natasha said.

"So how much farther?" Steve asked.

"This is my building." Natasha said, pointing at the building next to them. "It's nicer on the inside. Like, I mean the outside is nice, but the inside is nicer."

"Cool. I bet it's kinda cool to live in an apartment." Steve said.

"Yeah, I guess." Natasha said. 'Especially if you don't have to pay for it your self.' She thought.

Natasha lead the way into the building and up to her room. She grabbed the key from her pocket and quickly unlocked the door. She really didn't want to be late for another class so she felt the need to hurry.

The whole time she was rushing around and trying to unlock the door, Steve just stood quietly. He liked to watch her, even if it was a little creepy. He thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen in his life. He just wished that he could tell her.

"Okay. Lets go get my books." Natasha said.

"Yeah. Okay." Steve replied.

Natasha walked into her apartment and grabbed the pile of books on the table. She shoved them into her black backpack and looked over the room to make sure she didn't miss anything.

"Ready to go?" Steve asked.

"Yep." Natasha replied as she walked past him and out the door. After making sure the door was locked, they started on the journey back.

"So. I've been meaning to tell you something." Steve said.

Natasha's heart froze. She new exactly what was coming. Tony had told her already. But what should she do? She didn't like him in the way he liked her.

"What?" Natasha asked. She was just going to play it cool.

"I um.. I kinda like you. Like, like like you. You know what I mean, right?" Steve said.

"Yeah. I know what you mean." Was all Natasha could think to say.

"So, how do you feel about that?" Steve asked as they entered the outside world.

"I don't know. I've never had someone tell me they like me." Natasha replied while looking anywhere but at Steve. He was a really nice kid but she had no idea what to say to him.

"Oh. So are you mad at me then? You don't sound too happy." Steve said.

"No. Sorry. I'm not mad at all. I just don't know what to say." Natasha replied.

Steve nodded and stared at the ground. He looked as though he was in deep thought. Maybe he regrets telling her? Natasha shook her head. She was a terrible friend. She had a hard time opening up to people so it made it difficult to try and get them to want to be her friend. And honestly right now Natasha was considering not ever talking to her "friends" again.

After a long and awkward silence Natasha and Steve arrived at the school again. After getting through the security they walked into school and practically ran into the cafeteria. There was a few minutes to eat and Natasha gladly took them. But today she didn't sit by the others. After getting her food she crept outside to eat alone.

The fresh air felt great. It was nice to be somewhere where there was no other teens. The sounds of the cafeteria could be quietly heard through the closed doors. Natasha walked carefully down the small set of stairs that lay before the front of the school and sat on the second to bottom one.

Once she sat down and was comfortable she began to really study the school and eat her food. It was well kept. The grassy spots were nice and green, even for September. The only thing that was messy were the few leaves on the ground from the trees slowly changing color. Off to the side of the school Natasha could see a smaller building. Wondering what it was she got up and walked over, carefully peaking into the windows.

What she saw actually shocked her a little bit. Along the walls of the inside of the building there where shelves and shelves of books. More towards the center of it where some comfy couches and tables. But that's not what had socked her. On one of the couches sat Loki reading a book. Natasha would have never guessed he liked to read. With him it was hard to tell though.

Natasha stood there for a good three minutes until the school bell rang. She ran away from the window and grabbed her empty lunch plates and her backpack. After she gathered her things she ran into the cafeteria and put the empty dishes down. She then ran to her next class. The next class she had was Science. This class was the one that Bruce and Clint were in. Clint seemed like a strange guy but at least he was nice. And Bruce was always too caught up in a book.

When she walked into class she immediately noticed bruises all over Clint's face. She sat down in her spot that was right next to his.

"Are you okay?" Natasha asked immediately.

"What? Oh yeah. I'm good." Clint said.

"Are you sure? You look like you got hit by a bus." Natasha pointed out.

"I promise I'm fine. I just...ran into bullies. Y'know how those guys are." Clint said.

Natasha gave him one more concerned look before pulling her science equipment out. She was super excited for this day to be over. It was dragging on forever. 'Only three more classes' Natasha thought to herself. But then tomorrow she would just come back and have to do it again. It was the same boring life style each day. It was almost like she was a zombie. She had such a better life without going to school so why was she even here? Thankfully it was close to being Saturday. Only three days until then. Maybe she could run away from all this and never have to do school again.

"Good morning students. How are you all today?" The teacher asked, interrupting Natasha's thoughts.

The students all mumbled an un-cheery reply.

"Mr. Barton, are you okay?" The teacher suddenly asked, her voice full of concern for her student.

"Yes I am." Clint said, his voice cracking slightly.

"No. You aren't." The teacher said. "Would you please come with me Clint?"

Clint stood up and walked slowly over to the teacher. Natasha couldn't help but wonder what happened to him. She actually kind of liked him and wanted to be his friend.

"I'll be right back. Bruce, you make sure nothing happens while I'm gone." The teacher said.

All the students watched as Clint followed the teacher out of the class room. They heard quite voices in the hall, sudden crying and then silence as they walked slowly away.

"Hmm. That was strange." Some kid said.

Natasha rolled her eyes. It wasn't 'strange'. Something was wrong with Clint and she intended to find out what it was.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter. I hope you guys like it. So in upcoming chapters I'm thinking of doing something for Halloween like a school costume party. I'm not sure yet but if you guys have an idea just comment. Also, quick warning. I wrote most of this chapter at 11pm so don't expect much from it. Enjoy and please comment on what you think.

The next few days past slowly for Natasha. Every time she brought up what was going in with Clint he would change the subject or pretend he didn't hear her.

Natasha was just about to give up when she ran into someone in the halls Monday afternoon when the last class was over.

"Oops. Sorry about that." The guy said.

"You're good." Natasha said about to walk away.

"Hey! I know you! You're that Natasha girl that Clint keeps telling me about!" The guy said.

Natasha turned around to study the man better. He looked about two or three years older than Natasha. He had short brown hair and the same blue eyes as Clint. Natasha quickly put this together deciding that Clint must be related to the man.

"Yes that's me. Natasha." She blandly stated.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Barney Barton. I'm Clint's older brother. I just want to say thank you to you and your friends for being so nice to him." He said excitedly, offering his hand for a handshake.

Natasha shook his hand and smiled. "Yeah. Clint's a nice kid but he has me worried. A few days ago he was covered in bruises. Is he okay?"

Suddenly Barney's eyes became very solemn. The bright glow in his eyes became dim. She could even almost say dangerous.

"I don't think I should tell you." He said.

"Why?" Natasha asked, her face holding a confused look. "I'm really concerned about Clint."

"If I tell you, you must swear not to tell anyone else. Not even Clint's other friends. He doesn't feel comfortable with me sharing this." Barney said.

Natasha nodded. "I swear I won't tell." She promised.

"Good." Barney said. He looked a few times around the halls before dragging Natasha into an empty class room.

"So Clint and I have grown up with an... abusive father. The reason he had those bruises was because he got beat for trying to stick up for me. I just turned eighteen and I moved out with Clint yesterday."

"What did your dad say about that?" Natasha questioned.

"He doesn't know. He has no idea where we even live now. I'm trying to get a hold of the cops but they said they need proof." Barney replied.

"Wasn't Clint's bruises enough though?" Natasha asked.

"By the time I called the police they where almost gone." Barney said.

Natasha looked down at her shoes. She had no idea what to say. Every thought that passed through her mind would only make the subject worse.

"So just please be nice to him. If you see anyone bullying him, let me know." Barney said.

Natasha nodded and walked out of the door that Barney was holding open for her. She watched as he met up with Clint and walked out the front door.

'I wonder how Barney even got into the school.' She thought. Maybe Clint just told the password. Then again it didn't matter.

Natasha walked off to her locker to get her stuff. She was getting pretty good at this school thing. Her favorite class so far was gym. Tomorrow they would have self defense class.

Thinking about tomorrow reminded her about the English project she had coming up. Her and some kid she didn't know had to be partners. She sighed as she closed her locker and walked out to the front of the school.

The fresh air was nice and crisp. Natasha could defiantly tell fall was here. Next month was October and one of her favorite holiday was in October. (that is if you could consider it a holiday which she did.) She smiled, wondering what kind of crazy thing the school would do for Halloween.

"Hey! Look guys! She's actually smiling!" Tony mockingly said.

"Tony. Be nice to her. She's still new to this." She heard Steve say.

"Hi guys." Natasha said, forcing her smile to vanished.

"And now we're back to the same old boring Natasha." Tony said. "C'mon Pep. Let's go."

"Hi and bye Natasha! Text me!" Pepper yelled as Tony dragged her away.

"So how are you?" Steve asked.

"I'm good. Just heading home. Like everyone. Are you riding the bus?" She asked.

"Yep." He said. "So..um.. do you want to hang out with me and the others today?We're going to get pizza at Mike's Pizza Shop after we get in something more comfortable than these school uniforms."

"Sure. I don't have much to do today anyway." Natasha replied.

"Great! It'll be great to get to know you more. I mean as a group of course. Not just me." Steve said making the conversion awkward.

Natasha smiled at him trying to ease the awkwardness. "See you then."

"The bus is here Steve! Hurry and get your behind down here!" She heard Bucky yell.

"Well I gotta go. See you tonight!" He yelled as he ran off, almost tripping on one of the stairs as he ran. When he made it to Bucky, Natasha saw Bucky teasing him and when Steve tried to punch Bucky, Bucky just laughed and got on the bus.

Natasha smiled sadly as she walked out of the gate herself. She wished she had someone to be close friends with like that. The whole time walking home that's all she could think of.

Once she unlocked the door to her apartment, she set her bags down and ran into her room too change. She thought about how weird it will be to see her friends in normal clothes and not school uniform.

After slipping on a red T-shirt with a black leather jacket and jeans, she settled down on the couch and turned the TV on. After scrolling through Netflix for about ten minutes she decided to watch Star Trek.

When she was about half way through the show, her phone started to ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey Natasha! You should totally come and hang with us tonight." Pepper's voice said on the other side.

"I am. Steve invited me." Natasha told her.

"Aww. He's crushing so hard on you right now."

"Just please stop. You're the second person to say that to me. Well technically the third." Natasha mumbled the last part.

"Who else told you?" Pepper yelled over something loud in the background.

"Where are you?" Natasha asked.

"Tony's. He's fixing up his future car. Tony! Will you please be quiet!" Pepper screamed. "I'm trying to talk on the phone!"

"Yeah sorry babe." Tony's muffled voice said.

"Sorry about him. He doesn't know how to be quiet." Pepper said.

Neither do you.' Natasha thought.

"Oh yeah. So who else told you?" Pepper asked again.

"Just Tony, okay?" Natasha said.

"Gosh. Don't get that way with me." Pepper said.

Natasha sighed. Pepper was soooo hard to deal with sometimes.

"So you know where we're eating right?" Pepper asked.

"Yep." Natasha said.

"Do you know what time we're meeting at? Steve never tells anyone that." Pepper stated.

"He didn't tell me." Natasha told her.

"Well be there at five thirty okay? This will be so fun!" Pepper said.

"Okay. And yeah it will" Natasha said. "Who's all coming?"

"Well you already know that Steve and I will be there. Tony will be there. I think Clint is coming but it's not for sure yet. Then Bucky, Thor, Loki and Bruce. I think that's everyone." Pepper replied.

"Cool. Well I gotta go. See you tonight." Natasha said.

"Okay. Bye!" Pepper said, hanging her phone up.

Natasha turned the TV off and walked into the kitchen. After making herself a snack of PB&J she looked at the clock.

"I better get ready soon." She sighed.

After eating she walked into the bathroom and fixed her makeup. Today she just kept it at light brown eye shadow, a bit of black eyeliner and some mascara. Once the makeup was done she pulled her hair out of the ponytail it was in and brushed through it.

"Hmm. How should I do my hair?" She asked her reflection.

After sitting there for awhile she decided to leave it down and with its natural curls. She looked down at her phone. 4:45. She ran into her bedroom, threw on her shoes and ran out of her apartment.

After checking google maps to find Mike's Pizza Shop she started the journey there. Luckily it wasn't too far but it was about a mile away. But a mile to her was nothing so she decided to run.

After running for quite some time, Mike's Pizza Shop came in view and she could see Pepper and Tony waiting for the rest of them.

"Hi Natasha!" Pepper yelled.

Natasha waved at Pepper and slowed to a walk. It felt nice to get some exercise in since she hadn't had too much time to.

"Hi guys." Natasha said as she walked up to them.

"Hi!" Pepper squealed before hugging Natasha.

Natasha's eyes grew wide. She didn't really ever get hugs.

"Umm, thanks?" Natasha said.

"Yep." Pepper replied.

"The others are inside if you want to join them." Tony said impatiently. He had been looking forward to pizza all day.

"Yeah let's go." Pepper said.

"Yes!" Tony yelled excitedly.

Natasha rolled her eyes as she followed them in. How could anyone be in love with Tony Stark? Natasha didn't have a clue but Pepper was happy and that's all that mattered.

"Hi Natasha! I'm glad you came!" Said a happy Steve when they walked in.

"Yeah I'm glad I came too." Natasha said while smiling at Steve.

Inside of the pizza shop was bigger than it looked like it would be from the outside. Throughout the whole place where circle shaped tabled with at least for to five chairs around them. Against the walls were booths for bigger groups. On all the tables where plates to eat off of. On the back wall you could see the doors that led to the kitchen and the people that worked there. The whole place smelled like pizza of course. To top the building off it was painted with a cheery yellow making the room look brighter than it was.

"Wow. This is pretty nice for a pizza place." Natasha remarked.

"Yeah. It's our favorite place to hang." Tony said.

Natasha smirked and rolled her eyes as she sat down in the booth that her friends choose. All of the people that Pepper said would be here where sitting down in the booth too. Hopefully this would turn out okay.

"Hello, what can I get you to drink tonight?" A waiter said grumpily as he came up to their table.

"Umm, can we get some soda or something?" Tony asked.

"Yeah sure. What kind?" The waiter asked.

"How about root beer?" Tony asked the others.

Natasha and the others nodded their heads.

"Root beer it is." The waiter remarked impatiently.

Tony just smiled at the waiter who glared in return. He walked off into the kitchen and returned with nine cups and two bottles of root beer.

"Thank you, kind sir." Tony said.

"Whatever. What would you like to eat tonight?" He asked.

"Well, we'll take two large pizza's one supreme and what should the other one be?" Tony said.

"How about cheese?" Natasha asked.

"And the other one cheese." Tony said.

"Okay. Is that all?" The waiter asked impatiently.

"Yep. Thank you." Tony said, his voice slightly tainted with sarcasm.

The waiter walked off into the kitchen. Once he vanished from sight Tony turned to the others.

"I wonder what his problem is." Tony sighed.

"Maybe he's just having a bad day." Natasha suggested.

The others muttered their agreement and things went silent. The tension in the air grew with every passing moment. Finally the waiter came back with the pizza. He set it down on the table without saying a word and then he left.

"Eat up." Tony happily said.

Natasha took a slice of each pizza and put it on her plate. It had been a long time since she had eaten pizza and she was super excited.

"So, who's paying the bill?" Natasha asked after a few bights of her food.

"I am of course. I am the richest out of all of us." He said.

Natasha rolled her eyes and got back to the pizza. Once everyone was done that sat there for a while more talking about the events of the day. Once the night fell upon them they all stood up to go. Pepper and Tony stayed behind to pay the bill and the rest of them went outside.

"Bye guys. See you tomorrow." Clint yelled as he got onto his bicycle.

"Bye Clint." Natasha and the others yelled back. Natasha thought about what Barney had told her just this morning. She felt bad for Clint but there wasn't much she could do.

She sighed as she turned down the sidewalk to go home.

"Wait!" Someone yelled from behind her. She turned to see Steve running after her.

Natasha stopped and waited for him to catch up.

"What's up Steve?" She asked.

Steve held up a finger as he tried to catch his breath. Natasha could hear him wheezing and she assumed that he must have asthma.

"I just wanted to say thank you for coming tonight. It made me really happy." He said through ragged breathes and a cough here and there.

"Well thanks for inviting me." Natasha said. Steve was really starting to grow on her.

"Yep. Hopefully we can do this again soon?" Steve asked while scratching the back of his head and staring at the ground.

"Of course." She smiled.

"Great. Have a fun walk." Steve awkwardly said.

"Thanks." She said as her face suddenly felt warm.

Natasha turned around and ran down the street. She smiled to herself. Today had been quite a good day.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter. Sorry about how long this took to get out. I needed a break from writing. Please comment and tell me what you think.

Natasha happily sighed as she lay in her bed the next morning. Last night had been fun with her friends but that wasn't what she was thinking about.

The thing that she had thought about since last night was a someone. Someone with blond hair and shining blue eyes.

Natasha rolled over and checked her phone to see what time it was. 6:20. Just a few minutes before her alarm.

She sat up and stretched her muscles, letting a yawn escape. She stood up and slowly put her school clothes on. Once that was done she toasted a pop tart and quickly ate it. She then did her hair and put some makeup on.

After packing her bags and double checking to make sure her books were there, she left her apartment.

Today was a chilly day and the cold sent chills up Natasha's spine. She shivered wishing she grabbed a jacket.

"Oh well." She muttered under her breath. She could deal with the cold.

She rubbed her hands together vigorously as she walked, trying to get her fingers warm again. When she got to the side walk, found Steve and Bucky waiting for the signal to cross.

"Good morning Natasha." Steve greeted as she approached him.

"Good morning Steve." Natasha replied.

They stood a few minutes in silence until it was safe to cross.

"Last night was fun." Steve said as he walked through the gate.

"Yeah it was." Natasha smiled.

"You two are so lame." Bucky remarked.

"Be nice, Bucky." Steve said while glaring at his friend.

Bucky smirked and walked away from them. Natasha and Steve watched until he was out of sight.

"Sorry about him. He's been acting kind of weird lately." Steve commented.

"It's fine." Natasha said. "He's probably just trying to bug you."

Steve smiled at her. "Yeah. Probably."

Natasha sighed as the bell went off. She didn't want to go to class at all today.

"I've got to go. Well I guess you do too. See you later." Natasha said awkwardly too Steve.

She pushed through the crowd of teenagers trying to get to the door. For once in her life, she was one of the first ones inside. She rushed to her class room and was the second one there. The first was, of course, Loki.

"Good morning, ms. Romanoff." The teacher said.

"Good morning Mrs Jones." Natasha replied. She walked past the desks and sat down at hers.

"So students, as you know, the English project was cancelled. I bet you are all wondering why." Mrs Jones said.

Students started mumbled things to each other. The classroom came alive with excited, and a few upset, whispers.

Mrs Jones cleared her throat to get the students attention again.

"Class, please focus. We are in charge of hosting a Halloween dance. Any ideas are welcome." Mrs Jones stated.

The whole room was silent. If anyone had an idea they weren't willing to share it.

"How about everyone has to wear costumes?" A student in the back suggested.

"Yes that would work. Thank you for the suggestion, Becky." Mrs Jones said.

Natasha sighed and looked down at her English textbooks. Why did it always have to be a dance? She had always disliked those things, though she barely went to any.

For the next ten minutes students would pop out random ideas, some of them were a little crazy, but a lot were okay.

Finally, the bell rang and Natasha was free from English class. Though they didn't do anything that had to do with English.

Natasha went through each class that way until she got to gym. Gym was her favorite and today they were focusing on her favorite subject: Self Defense. She had to be a bit careful though since she was better at it than the others.

Natasha quickly changed into her gym clothes and ran to the gym.

The gym was a huge room with two basketball hoops at both ends. There was a row of benches on one of the longer walls and on the other wall was a closet that held the gym supplies.

In the middle of the room was a huge guy who was at least six foot two. He had brown hair with a receding hairline. He was wearing a white t shirt and gray sweat pants. Around his neck was a silver whistle.

"Welcome to your first lesson in self defence." The coach said once everyone was in the gym. "Today, we'll be learning a few simple but effective self defence moves. But first you'll need a partner. I'm going to pick two names from a jar and whoever's names come out will be partners."

Natasha stood there as he drew names out of a hat. She hoped with everything she had she would get a good partner. Finally she heard her name picked and her partner, Clint.

The coach pointed to a medium sized foam mat that Clint and Natasha were supposed to stand at.

"So, um. Let's take it easy on another, okay?" Natasha suggested.

"Yeah, sure." Clint said.

Natasha sighed in relief. She didn't want to hurt Clint.

In the front of the benches the coach cleared his throat.

"Okay. Who here knows a few self defense moves?" The coach asked.

Natasha, Clint and two other kids raised their hands.

"That's what I thought. You cupcakes need to learn how to protect yourselves." The coach said. "We'll start with a basic judo flip."

Natasha and Clint turned towards each other getting ready for it.

"First, I want you to get in a fighting position with your hands on each others shoulders. Who ever has their hands on the inside of the shoulders will be able to do this." The coach said.

Natasha put her hands on the inside of Clint's shoulders while his were on the outside. She didn't need any instruction on how to do this but for the sake of not giving things away, she took it step by step like the others.

"Now, who ever has their hands on the inside, turn around so that your back is to your opponent and pull your opponents stomach towards your back." The coach explained.

Natasha was one of the only ones who did this part right. Some of the others had their backs to each other while some were still holding eachothers shoulders.

The coach sighed as he looked over the group. He went and fixed their positions.

"Okay, this is now one quick movement. Now grab their arm and line their hips up to your hips. Then you want to lift them into your back by squatting and bending over slightly. Then you roll them off your hip and over your head. Once they are down pin them and make sure they stay down." Coach concluded.

Natasha did all this in less then five seconds. She pinned Clint down by holding his throat in between her hands. Clint tapped her hands to get her release the choke. She quickly stood up, realizing he was actually chocking.

"Sorry about that." She said, helping Clint up off the foam mat.

"It's good." Clint said. "I didn't know you were that good."

"I'm not an expert, but thanks." Natasha replied.

"Now for those of you who actually did it write reverse and have your partner try to flip you." Coach told everyone.

Clint did the same thing to Natasha and just as quickly as she did it to him. She landed awkwardly on her shoulder. He pinned her down the same way she did but he didn't make her choke at all.

Natasha stood up with help from Clint. "So did you just learn this today or...?" Natasha questioned, while rubbing her shoulder.

"No. I've known how for quite awhile. You probably have known for awhile too, huh?" Clint asked.

"Yeah." Was all Natasha said.

"Well good job to those of who who aren't failures. Now leave." Coach said.

Once Natasha was in her regular school uniform she got her things from her locker and left to go home. In a few days would be a dance and she was not looking forward to that.

On the bright side at lest she didn't have to worry too much about Clint anymore. He obviously was learning how to protect himself.

Once she was at her apartments, she lay down on a couch and fell asleep instantly.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how long this took to get out. I had no motivation to write at all. I'll try to get the next chapter out quicker.  
> Anyways, happy Halloween to those who celebrate!  
> Please comment and tell me what you think!

Natasha strolled through the halls of the school. She wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible but she didn't want it to look obvious.

In three days time there would be a dance. A Halloween dance. She would have to wear a costume to said dance. But, if nobody asked her to go to the dance then she figured she wouldn't have to go.

Once she was in sight of the exit, she practically ran for it. She needed to get out of there and fast.

Natasha smiled as she ran through the door but the smile faded as she ran into someone.

"Natasha! Hi!" Pepper squealed when she saw who bumped into her.

"Hi Pepper." Natasha said while dusting her skirt off.

"You are just the girl I wanted to see. I have good news for you. I'm taking you shopping for a costume! And I'll even pay for it." Pepper exclaimed while jumping up and down.

"Oh, uh you don't have to." Natasha commented awkwardly. "I actually wasn't planning on going."

Pepper stared at her open mouthed. "Not going?" She asked.

"Yeah. I've never been big on these things." Natasha replied.

"You are coming. If you don't come I'll go to you apartment and drag you out of there. Okay?" Pepper said.

"Pepper I can't. Plus, nobody's asked me to go with them." Natasha said. She mumbled the last part so only Pepper could hear her.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "You don't need to worry about if some boy wants you to dance with him. How about, if we don't get asked to the dance we can join Tony and he'll drive us there, okay?" Pepper suggested.

"I don't know..."

"I'll stay with you the whole time." Pepper said, cutting Natasha off.

Natasha sighed. This argument could go on forever if she let it. But she didn't want it to last forever so she just gave in.

"Fine. Just don't expect me to dance." Natasha finally said.

"Yay! Meet me at Mike's Pizza Shop tonight at five." Pepper said.

Natasha smiled. "Okay. See you then."

Once Natasha was home she changed into comfortable clothes and quickly did her homework.

Finally it was almost five. Natasha slipped her shoes and black leather jacket on and ran down to Mike's Pizza Shop.

"I'm glad you came!" Pepper exclaimed as Natasha approached her.

"Yeah." Was all Natasha replied.

"Okay, so Tony let me borrow his car and we'll use it to drive to the store okay?" Pepper said.

"Okay. Let's get this over with." Natasha remarked.

Pepper laughed. "It won't be that bad. What are you planning on being?" Pepper asked.

"I have no idea. I haven't given much thought to it." Natasha admitted.

"That's okay. We'll figure out something. I think I'll go as a Greek goddess. Like Aphrodite or something." Pepper said.

"That would work. If only I could think of something." Natasha mumbled.

"Like I said, we'll figure it out. Let's go." Pepper said.

The car that Pepper led Natasha to was a red convertible. The seats were brown leather. Pepper got into the drivers side and Natasha in the passengers.

"Wait, Pepper. How can you drive? Don't you need a person with a licence or whatever in the car with you?" Natasha asked.

"Oh, uh, I just barely turned sixteen and got my licence. So yeah." Pepper said.

Natasha looked questioningly at her friend, but Pepper wouldn't look at her. She started the car and they drove off. She guessed that Tony had probably made a fake licence or something.

Finally they arrived at a Halloween shop called All Things Halloween. The outside of the store was decorated with all different kinds of Halloween stuff like witches and spider webs.

"Well, this is where I usually go for my Halloween costume." Pepper said.

Natasha sighed. "Let's go."

They entered the store and a little bell rung as the door opened. The inside was small but had a lot of things inside. On one side of the room was racks of Halloween costumes and on the other side was fall and Halloween decorations. In the back was a counter to buy the items and changing rooms.

Pepper led Natasha to the racks of costumes and after some searching she found a Greek goddess costume.

"I'm going to try this on." Pepper said before heading to the back of the building where the changing rooms were.

Natasha turned towards the racks and searched for something to wear. She finally decided on the only one she liked.

It was a 1940's two-piece army dress. The top was a button up jacket with bronze colored buttons. A belt attached to the jacket to go around the waist. For under the jacket was a white button up shirt and an army green tie. The skirt was the same color as the tie and jacket and it came a few inches under the knees.

"So what do you think?" Pepper asked. She was in her Greek costume which was a pretty but simple one. It was a white sleeveless dress that turned into different shades of purple at the bottom. Pepper has Greek style shoes on and a golden laurel on her head.

"I like it!" Natasha exclaimed. "What do you think of this?"

Pepper looked at the dress Natasha held up. She nodded slowly a couple of times before speaking.

"Go try it on." She said.

Natasha rushed to the changing rooms and put the costume on. Once everything was all straightened out she stepped out to show Pepper, who had change out of her Greek costume.

"Ahh! It looks so good on you!" Pepper said.

"Thanks!" Natasha replied.

She quickly changed back into her regular clothes and they bought the costumes.

"Tonight was fun Pepper. We should hang out more." Natasha said.

"Yeah! That's exactly what I was thinking." Pepper replied.

They both climbed into the convertible and drove off. After saying goodbye, Pepper dropped Natasha off at her apartment building.

Natasha walked quietly through the halls just in case someone was sleeping. She glanced down at her phone as it lit up with a Facebook notification. When she was almost to her door she decided to look up again and before she could comprehend what happened she was sitting down in the floor after bumping into someone.

"Sorry!" A familiar voice sounded.

Natasha looked up to meet Steve's blue eyes. Steve held his hand out to her and helped her stand.

"It's okay." Natasha said.

"I was actually about to come see you." Steve told her.

"Really? Why?" Natasha questioned.

"Well...I was just wondering, would you like to go to the Halloween dance with me?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter. I hope you guys like it!

Natasha stared open mouthed at Steve. She couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened. Once it clicked in her head a strange high pitched squealing noise escaped her throat.

Steve looked at her questioningly. It took up all his courage to finally ask his pretty friend to go to the dance with him. In fact, this was the first ever girl he had asked to a dance. Usually he just went alone or with Bucky and Bucky's date.

Finally, Natasha snapped out of her daze and closed her mouth.

"So, er, will you go with me?" Steve asked after a few moments of silence.

Natasha took a deep breath and looked at Steve. She couldn't believe someone was actually asking her to the dance! Especially since it was the guy she had a crush on.

"Um, yes. I will. Thanks for asking me." Natasha smiled and then gave Steve a hug.

Steve felt his face grow warm but he smiled back. "You're welcome!" He said as Natasha stepped away from hugging him.

"Well, I should probably go into my apartment now." Natasha said.

Steve nodded and moved aside. Natasha unlocked her room and stepped in.

"Goodnight, Steve." Natasha said as she closed the door.

"Wait!" Steve said, putting his hand on the door. Maybe it was just her but he seemed like he was getting stronger. She could see the start of muscles on his arm and he didn't look as little as he normally did. In fact he even seemed a bit taller than before. A few days ago, she was at least a good two inches taller than him. But now the roles had switched.

"What's wrong?" Natasha asked.

"I, um," He started before leaning in.

Before Natasha noticed her and Steve's lips were connected. And as surprising as it was, Natasha actually enjoyed it. Steve suddenly pulled away, startling Natasha a little bit.

"Sorry.." He muttered.

Natasha stared at him, not sure of what to say.

Steve cleared his throat. "I, uh, I should go." He said, scratching the back of his neck.

Natasha smiled at him. "Bye, Steve. See you soon."

Steve walked away, muttering things under his breath as he went. Once he was out of sight, Natasha closed her door and leaned against it. Her knees felt strangely weak and she didn't know why. Her heart was racing and she couldn't slow her breathing down to save her life. She now understood the saying of having butterflies in her stomach.

She walked over to her room, quickly changed into her pajamas and went to bed.

The next morning Natasha had no motivation to go to school. She didn't want to run into Steve and have an awkward conversation about last night. But even though she didn't want to go, she still had to otherwise Fury would punish her. And she didn't want to deal with one of his punishments. On top of all this, Saturday was the Halloween dance. She was super excited for it now that she had a date to go with.

Natasha changed into her school uniform and put a little bit of makeup on. She tied her hair up into a ponytail, threw on her shoes, grabbed her bags and school books then left for school.

Once she got to the stop to cross the street, she met Steve and Bucky. Bucky gave Steve a small smirk and Steve glared at him. That must mean that he told Bucky! Natasha inwardly groaned.

They stood there in silence until Bucky nudged Steve in the ribs.

"Hi Natasha." Steve said.

"Hi Steve." Natasha replied. She felt her face growing warmer as thoughts of last night's kiss crossed her thoughts. She looked away hoping the boys didn't see.

Finally it was safe to cross the street and Natasha walked quickly away from Steve and Bucky. She entered the code on the gate and walked into the crowd of teenagers. She walked through them all trying to hide from Steve. She looked up a moment too late and bumped into someone. Why did this always happen to her?

She looked up to see who she bumped into and was greeted by the smiling face of Thor.

"Hello, Lady Natasha." He said, helping her stand up.

"Hi Thor. Please just call me Natasha. No 'Lady' Natasha." She commented.

"Well, what has got you all worried?" Thor questioned.

"Oh, nothing. Just, I've been super, uh, stressed about school." Natasha partly lied.

"Well, don't worry my friend. I can help you! Do you need help with your homework?" Thor asked.

"No. But I'll let you know if I ever need your help." She said.

"Okay. Are you excited for the dance? Have you been asked yet?" Thor asked.

"Yep to both questions. But I better get going. Don't want to be late for class." Natasha said.

"I will let you go then, Lady Natasha. Have fun." Thor grinned.

Natasha smiled back and went to class. Finally school was over and it was time to go home. The next day was went by just as fast and it finally was Saturday morning. It was the day of the dance.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Here is the next chapter. I hope you like it.  
> Also, happy Thanksgiving!  
> Please comment and tell me what you think.

Natasha looked down at her costume. She kept fussing over the invisible lint that clung to it. After she was satisfied with it, she looked herself over in the mirror.

With the costume, she had done her hair in a 1940's hairdo that was pulled back in the front with curls in the back. For her makeup she wore red lipstick, light brown eye-shadow and a bit of black eyeliner.

She signed as she looked at her reflection. She didn't quite understand what Steve liked about her. She wasn't pretty. She had red hair unlike the other girls who had beautiful blonde or dark brown hair.

A knock on the door shook her out of her thoughts. Her heart started beating faster and the butterflies from the night Steve kissed her had returned. She breathed in quickly, looked over herself one more time then walked over to the door.

She was greeted with the smiling face of Steve Rodgers as she opened the door.

"Hi Steve." Natasha awkwardly said as she opened the door. Her heart was beating faster and faster and she couldn't stop it.

"I brought you flowers." Steve stated, holding roses out to her.

"Aww! Thank you." Natasha accepted the roses.

"Well, um, shall we go?" Steve asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah. Let's go." Natasha replied.

As they walked out, Natasha looked anywhere but him. At her hands, the walls, her feet, just anywhere but him. It was hard to look at him without her heart going way to fast.

All she hoped for was this night to end fast and that she didn't pass out.

Natasha took a deep breath in to help calm herself. Before she new it, they were outside. Parked on the side of the road was Tony's newest car. It was a red mustang with a super loud engine. Pepper and Tony were standing outside of the car in their costumes.

"Hi Natasha!" Pepper said.

"Hi Pepper." Natasha replied.

"You look so great in your costume! What do you think of mine and Tony's?" Pepper asked.

Natasha glanced over at Tony with a skeptical look. He was wearing a Greek style tunic with a golden laurel wreath around his head.

"He, um, looks great. And so do you." Natasha said.

"That's great! But, did you like my little surprise?" Pepper asked.

"What surprise?" Natasha questioned.

"Well, Steve, he's wearing an army costume too. I told Tony to tell Steve that you were going with the 40's army costume so that you guys could match." Pepper stated.

Natasha looked at Steve. She hadn't realized that they matched. She was to busy trying not to embarrass herself to see what his costume was.

"Thanks, Pepper." Natasha smiled.

"Yep!" Pepper replied.

"Okay girls. Let's go." Tony yelled.

Natasha and Pepper walked over to the car and climbed into the back seats. Natasha was relieved when Pepper sat down by her. It calmed her nerves to have her friend by her.

"This is going to be so fun!" Pepper said.

"I agree, babe. But please don't get overly excited like last time, remember?" Tony said from the front.

"Of course I remember so shut up." Pepper replied.

Finally the gate to the school could be seen multiple cars where sitting within the gates and tons of teenagers in costumes were filing out of the cars and into the school. The schools doors were wide opened and the outside was decorated with all kinds of Halloween things.

Tony pulled up to the gates and entered the pin. He pulled the car in and parked. Once the car was stopped he turned it off and got out to open the door for Pepper. Steve did the same for Natasha.

"Let's go!" Pepper said, linking her arm through Tony's.

Natasha and Steve glanced at each other, then they intertwined their arms just like Tony and Pepper. Natasha didn't understand how Pepper could be so confidant and comfortable with Tony. She wished that she could be like that.

Taking a deep breath, Steve and Natasha walked forward into the school. The halls were decorated just like the outside of the school.

The gym was where the dance was being held. There was a photo both next to the chairs. Along one wall was tables full of food. A few feet away were some tables to eat the food at. In the middle of the gym were a bunch of people dancing with their dates.

"Well, this will be fun." Natasha sarcastically muttered under her breath.

"Yeah. It will." Steve said without a trace of sarcasm next to her.

"Well, let's go get some food!" Pepper and Tony said at the exact same time.

"That was honestly a little creepy." Natasha commented.

Tony and Pepper just laughed.

The table was lined with all kinds of delicious things. There was cookies, chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting, fruit punch that looked almost like blood. Natasha piled her plate up with food until it was almost overflowing.

"Do you want a drink?" Steve asked as they walked to some of the tables to sit at.

"Um, yeah. Sure." Natasha replied.

After Steve pulled a chair out for Natasha and once Natasha was seated, he left to go get some fruit punch.

"Hi Natasha!"

"Natasha looked up from her phone to see Clint sit down next to her.

"What's up?" She asked, setting her phone into her small purse.

"Ah, nothing. Just enjoying everything." He replied.

"Cool. Did you bring a date?" Natasha questioned.

He looked away, a light blush forming on his cheeks.

"No. The girl I wanted ask was already taken." He remarked, setting his feet up on the table.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Natasha said.

"No. You shouldn't be. It's not your fault." He sighed, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.

"Well, ask her to dance? I'm sure she would say yes." Natasha told him.

His eyes shot open and a look of hope flashed on his face.

"You really think she would?" He said.

"Yeah. Just ask her. You can do it!" Natasha said.

Clint smiled at her. He set his feet on the ground and sat up straight.

"Hey, uh, Natasha?" Clint asked.

"What?" Natasha questioned.

"Well, um," Clint took a deep breath, "will you dance with me?"

Natasha almost spat her cookie she was eating all over Clint's face. She was the girl he was talking about?

"Uh.." was all that she could say.

"I guess if you don't want to, that's fine." Clint muttered.

"No, no. Yes, I mean. What I'm trying to say is, yes I'll dance with you." Natasha replied.

Natasha and Clint both got up. Taking one of Natasha's hands in one of his, he led her to the dance floor. A slow dance had just started and once they got the timing they started dancing.

Natasha was surprised at how well he led. He didn't step on her foot once.

Clint was just as surprised as she was. Natasha had always been great at following along. She was a very graceful dancer.

Finally the song ended and Natasha and Clint went back to their original tables. When Natasha got to her table, she found a very annoyed looking Steve.

"What's the matter?" She asked him.

"Why did you dance with him?" Steve said, a jelous tone to his voice.

"Because he asked me. I wouldn't want to be rude to him." Natasha stated.

"When did you start caring about when you were rude to someone Natasha?" Steve commented.

Natasha glared daggers at him. She really, really liked Steve but why was he angry at her?

"Steve.." Natasha started.

"Please, just don't. Okay?" Steve said.

"You know what? I'm going to go get more punch." Natasha said through clenched teeth.

She walked angrily away. Why was he acting like this! She had done nothing wrong! Once she got her punch, she stood around for a few more minutes. Once it was around nine o'clock she left to go home. She wasn't in the mood to see Steve again, or anyone for that matter.

Once inside her apartment, she changed into pajamas and threw herself on her bed. And, for the first time in months, she cried.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about how long it's been since I've published. Hopefully it's a good chapter (which it probably isn't)

The next few days were awful for Natasha. She hardly got any sleep and she was always in a sour mood with every one. 

On top of all that, she was upset at Steve and she took it out on the people around her.

Natasha walked slowly down the sidewalk. Even though she was fifteen minutes late she didn't bother to walk faster.

She ran across the crosswalk not looking for cars. When she reached the other side she walked slow again until she reached the gate. Once inside the gate she acted like she didn't mean to be late and ran into her first class.

"You're late." Mrs Jones remarked as Natasha ran through the door.

Natasha looked up at Mrs. Jones and was about to apologize when she was interrupted.

"Are you okay Natasha?" Mrs. Jones asked. Her student didn't look as lively as she usually did. She noted that Natasha had dark bags under her eyes and her hair was in a frazzled mess.

Natasha yawned, then nodded at her teacher. "I'm fine." She mumbled, walking to her desk.

"I don't think your definition of fine means the same thing as my definition of fine." Loki muttered next to her once she had sat down.

Natasha gave him her best glare, hoping it would send him the signal to leave her alone.

Loki sighed, shook his head and rolled his eyes all at the same time.

"You just keep rolling your eyes Loki. Maybe you'll find a brain back there." Natasha stated.

"For your information, I do have a brain and I am very intelligent." Loki coldly remarked.

After using her hand to mock Loki, Natasha ignored him and turned back towards the teacher. She was explaining the plot to Julius Caesar. 

"What is wrong with you Natasha!" Loki hissed next to her.

Natasha smirked slightly. She had just made him made.

"Nothing." Was all she replied. And, to her amusement, it made Loki angrier.

"Natasha I swear I'm going.." Loki started.

"Okay class, now open your book to page 35." Mrs. Jones interrupted.

Natasha smirked at Loki then opened her book up.

~~~

After her first three classes, the lunch bell finally rang. She completely ignored Steve in history. And math was the worst part of her day so far. Bucky seemed angry at her, probably because Steve told him something. Then Catrina would not leave her alone about what had happened. Rumors must have been going around about her and Steve.

Finally she was able to leave that all behind and eat something. She walked through the cafeteria doors. The rows and rows of tables were filled with teenagers. Most of them looked snobby to Natasha. She passed all this and grabbed a tray and silverware. She walked down the isle and picked out a pizza, a bag of chips and a water bottle.

Once she had everything she walked to the hallway and snuck out of the school.

The air was nice and crisp and it cleared Natasha's mind. It was nice to be away from all the chaos inside the building that sat behind her.

She sighed contently and started eating her food. She sat there about fifteen minutes when the door opened behind her.

She jumped and almost nearly spilled her food. She turned around and saw Loki. He sat down next to her, his good tray in his hands.

"What do you want?" Natasha bluntly asked.

"I came to see if you were okay." Loki told her.

"I'm fine!" She said.

"You are not fine! What is going on with you Natasha?" Loki exclaimed.

Natasha felt a lump grow in her throat. She blinked several times, making sure she wouldn't embarrass herself in front of Loki by crying.

Loki looked over at Natasha. She glanced up at his eyes. That's when she couldn't hold it in. The warm tears flowed down her cheeks, landing on the step below her. She had been holding in the emotion for so long that it hurt to let it out.

After a few minutes, Natasha was done crying and she leaned on Loki's shoulder. A look of surprise crossed his face.

As the bell rung for class, Loki and Natasha stood up, grabbing their trays. They ran into the cafeteria and left the trays there.

"Thank you, Loki." Natasha said.

Loki smiled, but not like he usually did. It was a nice and genuine smile.

"You're welcome." Loki said.

"I know it's stupid that I'm mad at Steve but, he really hurt me. I trusted him and he got mad at me. I-I don't get attached to people easily and I got attached to him and he—well you know." Natasha told him.

Loki nodded. "Tell him how you feel. It will help you." 

"Thank you for listening. You're the first person to ever listen." Natasha said.

After saying goodbye to each other, they both went their separate ways to their classes.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! I really suck at updating. Sorry it's short. I had writers block.

Natasha took a deep breath. Her hand fluttered next to the door frame as she hesitated to knock.

While she stood there, she examined the outside of the house. It was small and painted a light yellow with white trim. But the paint was peeling at the corners. The windows were open and a blonde woman who looked about thirty was walking around and cleaning.

Finally she gave in and nocked. The rough and unpolished wood scraped her knuckles. 

"Coming." A voice, Natasha presumed it to be the woman's, called out.

  The door opened and the blonde woman stood before Natasha. She didn't look very healthy and had a pale tone to her skin.

"Can I help you?" She questioned with a soft voice.

Natasha cleared her throat. "Um, yes actually. Are you Mrs. Rogers?" Natasha asked.

"Yes." Was the woman's reply.

"Is Steve here? I need to talk to him." Natasha stated.

"Currently, no. I'm sorry. May I ask who you are?" Mrs. Rogers asked.

"I'm Natasha Romanoff." Natasha replied.

"Oh. Steve's girlfriend. It's nice to meet you." The woman smiled.

Natasha slightly frowned at the term "girlfriend". Currently she wasn't sure what Steve was to her. She hated feeling this confused. She was supposed to know everything.

"The pleasure is mine. What time will Steve be back?" Natasha asked, slightly relieved he wasn't here.

"Around six. For dinner." Mrs. Rogers replied.

Natasha smiled. "Thank you." She turned around and started down the cracked pavement. 

"Bye!" The woman said before closing the door.

Natasha closed the wooden gate behind her and trudged home. She walked all this way for nothing. She sighed as she started to walk across the cross walk.

Once she was to the other side, she heard footsteps from behind her. She started to turn to see who it was and as soon as she did so, she was nocked over.

"Oh. Sorry ma'am." A boys voice said.

Natasha glanced up and saw Bucky standing there, is hand outstretched to help her up.

"Natasha. What are you doing here?" He asked her.

Natasha grabbed Bucky's hand and her pulled her up. When she was about to be completely standing up, a pebble rolled under her foot causing her to fall into Bucky's arms.

Natasha laughed nervously, stepping back from him. "Sorry. I'm here to see Steve. I assume he told you what happened?" She muttered.

"Yeah. I was upset at you before, but I'm guessing you were trying to make things right and he didn't listen?" Bucky asked.

"Well yes and no." Natasha started. "I was going to talk to him, but he wasn't home." 

Bucky looked down at the ground for a minute, giving Natasha a chance to study his features. He was pretty good looking. She shook her head forcing those thoughts to leave.

"Hmm. I wonder why he's gone." Bucky said, looking back up at Natasha.

For some stupid reason, Natasha got nervous when he made eye contact and she looked down at the ground.

"Um, uh, I better get going." She said, pointing behind her. "See you at school." 

She turned and started walking, Bucky's footsteps still behind her. She continued for awhile until her apartment was just ahead, and Bucky was still behind her.

"I'm not trying to be rude or anything," she said, turning to face Bucky, "but why are you following me?" 

"Oh, I'm not following you. My apartment is up this way." Bucky said, pointing at the apartment across from Natasha's.

Natasha nodded and walked up to her apartment. Once she was inside her room, she collapsed on her bed. All this drama crap was driving her crazy. She needed a break.

She sighed and rolled onto her side, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She had a bunch of missed called and unread text messages. She clicked on them to see who they were from. 

Pepper. She rolled her eyes and put her phone up on nightstand. Covering herself under a blanket, she dozed of into a light sleep.

~~~

Natasha woke up two hours later, feeling refreshed and not as upset. She glanced at the time on her phone: 5:47. 

She rolled over and got out of bed. It was time to talk to Steve.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! I hope it's good.  
> Also I know Steve isn't a jerk like how I wrote him in this chapter but I'll explain later.

The phone sat in Natasha's hands with Steve's phone number. She was going to visit him at his house but couldn't muster the strength to talk to him face to face.

"Hello?" She heard Steve's voice from the other line.

She took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "Uh, hi Steve. This is Natasha." She replied.

"Oh. Natasha." He said. It was silent for awhile. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened at the Halloween dance. It's been over a month and we haven't talked for awhile." She told him, hoping he wouldn't hang up.

There was another pause from Steve's side. It seemed as if she could hear him thinking.

"I don't know what there is to talk about." Steve said.

Natasha huffed slightly. "It isn't a big deal Steve. I know you got jealous, but this isn't something to fight over." Natasha stated, her patience growing thin.

"Natasha, that's not what I'm mad about!" Steve exclaimed.

Natasha frowned even though she new Steve couldn't see her. "Than what are you mad about?"

Steve sighed, trying to collect his thoughts. "I'm upset because I saw the way you were looking at Clint. I was planning to ask you to be my girlfriend that night but then..." His voice trailed of.

When Natasha heard his plan, she took a sharp breath. Girlfriend? She'd never been anyone's girlfriend.

"Steve," She said quietly.

"I'm sorry, Nat. I need some space for awhile and I'm sure you do too. We need to think this all over. When I'm ready, I'll call you." He said. Then he hung up not even bothering to say goodbye.

Natasha turned her phone off and put it in her pocket. She didn't know what to do. She sat in the same spot, staring at the floor like it had done something wrong.

Her eye's stung and she blinked furiously. Why was she crying? Back in the Red Room, they had told her that crying was a sign of weakness, but was it?

A knock on the door shook her from her thoughts. She quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks and made sure that her mascara didn't smear. She walked slowly to the door making it seem like answering it was doomsday.

"Hello miss Romanoff!" A happy Coulson said when the door opened.

Natasha had to resist the urge to slam the door in his stupid cheery face.

"What?" She asked him, hoping this would be a quick visit.

"I have come to inform you that Fury says you've been doing wonderful in your new schooling environment. You've gotten straight A's and it seems like you have a busy social life as well." He said.

Natasha raised her eyebrows at him. Busy social life? What did that have to do with anything.

"Yes. I've been liking school." She blandly stated.

"Great!" He replied happily. "I've got to go. I'll be checking up on you later."

Natasha closed the door in his face and walked back over to her little corner.

She sat down and positioned herself into a comfortable position. After awhile, she fell asleep.

Natasha looked around. She was at school? But how? She had just been at her apartment in the corner.

Frowning, she looked around the hallways and walked down them. Shadows covered the ceiling, making the halls have a strange eerie feeling to them. She slightly shuddered as goosebumps ran up and down her spine.

"This is all your fault." She heard a voice whisper from behind her.

She whipped around to see who was there. Millions of things crawled out of the shadows. Natasha tried screaming but nothing came out. Her voice was gone. She turned to run but her feet wouldn't listen to her. Soon she was consumed by the shadows.

Natasha woke with a scream. Her breathing was sharp and her heart felt like it would pound out of her chest.

Once she was fully awake she realized it was a dream. A nightmare. It had been awhile since she had had one.

She stood up from her corner, wiping the cold sweat from her brow. After grabbing something to eat, she plopped on the couch and watched television. She new she wouldn't be sleeping tonight.

The next few days were filled with nightmares. She couldn't sleep at night because of them. The only time she was able to sleep was when the sun was up. The light made her feel safe when she woke, breathing hard from the bad dreams.

This kept going until January. School finally started up after Christmas brake. Natasha was still not getting good sleep from the dreams.

"Whoa. Natasha. You don't look so well." Looking up, Natasha found Clint facing her with a concerned look.

"No. I'm fine." Natasha said.

She walked a few paces. When she was almost past Clint, he put a hand softly on her shoulder.

"You know, you can tell me anything." He said, smiling down at her.

Natasha blushed slightly. Why was he being so nice? "Uh, thanks. That's um. That's really nice of you." Why was she stuttering now?

Clint smiled and released her shoulder. "See you in science."

Natasha waived as he walked away. Wow. He was really nice.

She smiled to herself and walked into her first class. She sat in her usual spot next to Loki.

"You look horrible." Was Loki's first words to her. He didn't sound the slightest bit concerned.

Rolling her eyes, she pulled her books out and got her things ready.

"Why do you look like crap?" Loki asked.

Natasha ignored him.

She heard him sigh but she didn't look up at him.

Finally class was over. Natasha walked over to her locker and put her things away. She pulled out what she needed and closed the locker.

A hand was set next to her head, landing on top of the locker door. She turned to see who it was.

"You never told me what was wrong." Loki said when she turned towards him.

She frowned at him for trapping her against the locker. "I have a class to get to, Loki." She told him.

He smirked. "Not until you tell me."

Natasha glanced at the floor. Should she tell him? Well if she wanted to get to class on time, then yes.

"Just bad dreams. That's all." She said, trying to get past him. But he put his other hand on the locker, not letting her past.

She could easily kick him so that he would have to move, but she wasn't in the mood to have detention.

"It's nothing okay?" Please just let me go!" She exclaimed getting quite irritated.

She could tell Loki was studying her, maybe seeing if she was lying. She cast her eyes anywhere but. Loki seemed to be getting closer now.

Natasha body went stiff. Please no! She thought to herself. She really hoped he wasn't going to do what she thought he would.

And... She held her breath then Loki's lips were on hers. He body went stiff. She couldn't understand why he was doing this. After a few seconds, she pushed him away.

"What was that for?!" She asked him, her face a be a dark shade of red.

He shrugged, shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away.

"Wow. That guy is smooth." Tony said from the other side of the halls.

Natasha gave him a glare and walked into her class.


	14. Chapter 14

 Class was boring.

 Like usual. 

 Though Natasha did like her  history class, it was hard for her to concentrate after the kiss with Loki. Even just thinking about it made her face turn red. She tried pushing it out of her mind, but wasn't able to.

 Finally after history and math, the lunch bell rang. Once she was in the cafeteria she grabbed a plate of pizza and a bottled water. She crept  out of the lunch room and sat on the stairs outside of the school. 

 The breeze outside was chilly. Small snowflakes flew around her face, slowly turning the gray and brown earth to a bright white. It all reminded her of home. Of Russia. She used to love playing outside in this weather.

 She realized how homesick she really was. She had never really expected to feel this way about Russia. It was as if a storm cloud was hanging over her head.

 She took a bite of her pizza and glanced around. Just over four months ago she had come to school for the first time ever.

 "It's nice out here, isn't it?" A voice said from behind her, breaking her train of thought.

 She whipped around, her red room training kicked in. She wasn't sure if she should be surprised or not to see Loki standing behind her.

 She glanced up at him and noticed he wasn't wearing a jacket of any kind, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. 

 "Aren't you cold?" She asked him.

 "No." He said, taking a seat next to her.

 "Hmm." She replied, not knowing what to say. Maybe it was just her, but it seemed like this was a very awkward conversation.

Loki sighed, situating himself into a comfortable position. "Listen, about earlier..."

 Natasha held up her hand to stop him from speaking again. It took everything to not turn red at the mention of the kiss. "I uh-it's fine." She said, but he just shook his head.

 "I am not here to apologize." He bluntly stated.

"Than what are you here for?" She asked him.

 He coldly smirked. "I came to tell you that I know exactly what has been going on with you. And Steve too. I decided it was my turn with you." 

 Natasha flashed him a confused and annoyed look. "First off, I'm nobody's property. And second, what do you know?" She skeptically asked.

 "You and Steve are in a fight. He's upset because of something that is happening in his life. I'm sure he'll tell you soon." He turned his eyes towards hers. A smile appeared on his face, making it seem as if he knew something that nobody else did. "And you. You aren't sure if you love him anymore."

 Natasha's eyes went wide. How did he find out about all these things? And that last part. She hadn't even admitted it to herself even. But as he said it, the feeling came alive in her. She was confused about everything. Even her feelings for some boy.

 "How do you–? " was all she could ask before her voice trailed off.

 Loki shrugged. "Good judge of character maybe?" He said. Obviously he was lying.

 Natasha gave him one of her death stares which, in reply, he just smirked back. As she was about to open her mouth to tell him something, the bell rang. She grabbed her tray, stood up and walked back into the cafeteria with Loki right behind her. 

 With him so close to her, she felt uncomfortable. She could have sworn that she felt his cold breath on her neck, but when she glanced back at him he was about two or three feet away.  Once she left her tray were it was supposed to go, she left the cafeteria to go to her next class.

 Science went like normal. Except for when Clint made his chemical mixture explode. The teacher was surprised at how he was able to make it blow up. Bruce couldn't stop laughing at the back of the room and ended up with detention. Natasha could tell he was angry.

 Art class was the class Natasha hated the most. When she walked in, she was met by Pepper waiving her arms wildly to get Natasha's attention. When Natasha approached her, Pepper's face grew into a huge grin.

 "What?" Natasha asked, her brows knit together in confusion.

 "You have a boyfriend!" She squealed. All the others in the class were now watching them talk. "Tony told me everything."

 Natasha felt her stomach twist up. What did Tony say? "And that is?"

 "Natasha." Pepper's face was now serious. "You have the boy that almost every girl here wants."

 "Pepper! I have no idea who you are talking about!." Natasha hissed, noticing all the eyes watching her and Pepper talk. The other girls were giving her dirty looks full of pure hatred. 

 The teacher walked in. "Alright class. Today, I have a...What is it miss Pots?" 

 Natasha glanced over and saw Pepper's arm raised high in the air. Once her name was called, she lowered it and prepared herself to speak.

"Natasha and I need to use the restroom. It's an emergency." Pepper told her, a look of innocence on her face.

 "You may go," She nodded, handing Natasha and Pepper a hall pass.

 "Thank you Mrs. Bernard!" Pepper sweetly sang, skipping out of the class room. Once they were in the halls, she grabbed Natasha's hand and dragged her to the nearest bathroom which was a good seven yards away from the class room.

 Pepper opened the door and shoved Natasha in, looking under all the stalls to make sure nobody else was in there with them. Once she was sure they were alone, she turned to Natasha.

 "You know I don't need to use the bathroom, right?"  Natasha remarked.

 Pepper nodded. "I don't either."

 Natasha raised one eyebrow. "Then why are we in here?" 

 Pepper shook her head. "Didn't you see the looks the other girl were giving you?"

 "Well, yeah.  But class was starting." Natasha commented.

 "Well this is more important, okay?"

 Natasha sighed. "Fine."

 "Okay. Loki is the most wanted boy in this whole school..." Pepper started only to be cut off by Natasha.

 "Wait. This is about Loki?" Her voice higher than she had anticipated. 

 "Yes. Duh." Pepper stated like it was the most obvious thing.

 Natasha shook her head. Anger was growing deep inside her. Why did Tony have to be the one to spread rumors. 

 "So you think that I'm his girlfriend?" 

 "Well, yeah I guess." Was Pepper's reply. 

 "And what exactly did Tony tell you?" Natasha asked, trying to keep her voice level.

 "Well, he told me and my friends at lunch that you two were making out in the hallways." Pepper said.

 Natasha could feel herself go pale. She started to think of everyone who could have heard about this. But her mind stuck to only one person. Steve. 

 Her stomach felt like it had been tied with a rope and wrenched out of her body.

 "How.." her voice faltered. She took a deep breath, preparing to speak again. "How many people know?" 

 Pepper had noticed the change of color in her friend's face. "At the rate that it was spreading? About the whole school. Natasha, are you feeling okay?" 

 Natasha nodded. "I wasn't kissing him Pepper. He was kissing me." 

 "And you didn't kiss him back."

 Natasha shook her head furiously. She never imagined that it would go this way. It was a kiss. An unwanted kiss to be correct. 

 "No Pepper. I didn't kiss him back." 

 Pepper shook her head sadly. "I'm so sorry Natasha. Now everyone thinks..." She trailed off but Natasha knew exactly what she would have said.

Natasha sighed. "We should get back to class before the teacher thinks we snuck off."

Pepper nodded and held that bathroom door open for them to leave. After Natasha passed Pepper and rounded the corner, Natasha bumped into someone she had never seen before.

"Oh! I'm so so so sorry!" He said, turning to help her up.

"It's fine," Natasha replied, taking his hand and standing up.

He grinned at her. He almost reminded her of a cute puppy. A cute and lost puppy. "I'm sorta new here. My name is Peter. Peter Parker." 

***


	15. Chapter 15

Natasha smiled at the boy named Peter. He was three or four inches taller than her. He had brown eyes and brown hair that was brushed neatly to the side.

"It's nice to meet you, Peter. I'm Natasha." Natasha said.

"I'm Pepper." Said a voice behind Natasha.

She turned to see Pepper had caught up to her.

"So uh," Peter started awkwardly, "can you tell me where art class is?"

  "We were actually heading there right now." Pepper said, grabbing his arm and leading them to the class room.

 "Here we are!" She said, snatching the attention of everyone in the class.

 Natasha walked in behind her friend and Peter. All the girls in the class gave her looks. Peter noticed the looks they were giving and turned to Natasha.

 "What's up with them?" He asked.

 Natasha arched an eyebrow. "You haven't heard the rumors?" 

 He shook his head. "No. This is my first official class. My aunt just barely brought me here."

 Natasha nodded and walked over to her seat in the back of the room. They were all seated at four chaired tables. There were a bunch of them scattered throughout the room. The teacher's desk was at the front of the room. Along one of the walls was rows of cabinets all filled with art supplies. 

 "Everyone," Mrs. Bernard cleared her throat to get the attention of everyone, "This is Peter Parker. He is new here. Everyone say hello."

 The students echoed the last word, sounding like a group of robots.

 "You may go sit by Natasha and Pepper."

 Peter nodded and smiled at the teacher. He then walked to the back of the room and took his spot next to the two girls.

 Finally class was finished and all that was left was gym class. It went like it normally did, consisting of the coach yelling at them every three minutes or so. But it was nice to see Clint again.

 When the bell rang signalling that it was time to go home, Natasha changed back into her school uniform and started for the door.

 The air outside sent a shiver down Natasha's spine. It thrilled her that the cold weather was finally here. The ground was still dusted with snow reminding her of powdered sugar. Some teenage boys were running through it, leaving footprints everywhere. 

 Natasha smirked. It brought back memories. She started walking down the steps, taking extra caution not to slip and embarrass herself.

 "Hey! Natasha!" 

 Natasha turned around to see who had called for her. She smiled when she saw the familiar face of Clint Barton. 

 "What's up?" She asked while she fiddled with her backpack strap.

 "I, uh, I have a, uh," he took a deep breath and tried again. "I have a question for you."

 Natasha rose an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

 He swallowed hard and looked up in her eyes. "Will you, uh. Will you go on a date with me?" He asked.

 Natasha watched in amusement as he tried to maintain eye contact. When he failed, she couldn't help but blush slightly. He was kind of cute if she was to be honest.

 "A date? Where?" She asked.

 "I haven't gotten that far yet. I was expecting to be rejected. So what's your answer?" He asked. He obviously had regained his composure and now stood tall.

 "Well, sure. Yeah. That would be fun," She answered. When his face lit up, she couldn't help but smirk.

 "Great!" He said, almost bouncing up and down. When he noticed her watching him, he stopped and straightened up, "I mean cool. Can I have your number so I can text you when I've decided were to go?" 

 "Sure," she said. She pulled out a paper from her notebook and wrote her number down on it. After retrieving another piece of paper from the notebook, he wrote his number down.

 "Ohhh. Clintys got a girlfriend." A taunting voice said from behind Natasha. She could tell, by the glance Clint gave her, that it was Tony.

 "Tony." Was all Clint said.

 "I'm not his girlfriend, Tony." Natasha simply stated, turning to face him. 

 "First, she's together with Steve," Tony's voice now sounded like a sport announcers, "Next, she's kissing Loki in the halls, and now, she's gotten a new boyfriend. What's gonna happen next?" Tony laughed.

 "Just leave them alone, babe." Pepper came up behind Tony.

 After a final mocking grin at Clint, Tony shrugged and walked away with Pepper. 

 "Ugh. Stark is so annoying." Clint said.

 Natasha turned back towards him and nodded her agreement. "Well, I better go. Text me when you can." 

 She started walking towards the gate and entered the pin. The walk home was cold but when she arrived at the apartment, she warmed up immediately. 

 The rest of the day passed quickly and Natasha couldn't stop thinking about her future date with Clint. With that on her mind, for the first time in awhile, she slept with no nightmares.

***


	16. Chapter 16

Friday was finally here and Natasha couldn't wait to get out of school. She had managed to stay away from Loki and Steve for the rest of the week and she wasn't ready to break that streak.

When the bell rung, Natasha grabbed her things from her locker and left the school as quickly as she could.

At her apartment, she changed out of her scratchy school uniform and into something comfy. When she was about to sit down, she felt her phone buzz once in her back pocket.

'Hey Nat. It's me Clint.'

She smiled and got ready to reply.

'Hi Clint. What's up?' She asked him.

'Well I have an idea for our date. It's something fancy so you got to be dressed for it.' He replied.

'Alright. What is it?' She questioned.

'You'll have to see. I'll pick you up tomorrow night at around six?'

Natasha sent her okay and put the phone back in her pocket. Instead of sitting down to watch television like she had originally planned, she walked into her bedroom and to her closet.

After sorting through a bunch of clothes, Natasha huffed with a frustrated sigh.

"I have nothing to wear." She told the floor.

She cleaned up the mess she had made and slumped into her bed. She had no good dresses. No money. Nothing. And even if she begged him, Fury wouldn't give her any money. The only nice thing he did for her was leave food in the fridge. Every once in awhile he would send Coulson over with a whole bunch of groceries.

She sighed, running her hand through her thick curls. What was she going to do?

Then an idea formed. Pepper Pots. She would help her. She pulled out her phone and texted Pepper telling her it was an emergency and that she needed to get over here fast.

***

"I got here as soon as I could. What's wrong?" Pepper said as Natasha let her into the apartment. Once they were seated on the couch, Natasha gave Pepper her story.

"Okay so, I have a date with someone and I have nothing to wear. I'll show you my closet if you don't believe me."

Pepper nodded. "A date. No clothes. I believe you."

Natasha rose an eyebrow, not sure if she should be offended or not.

"What do I do?" Natasha asked.

"Well, I think it's time to shop!" Pepper said. She grabbed Natasha's arm and dragged her back to the front door. "Let's go!" 

***

"I have to go in there?" The disgust in Natasha's voice was obvious.

Pepper rolled her eyes and turned the car off. "Yeah you do." 

Natasha sighed and got out of the car. She looked at the huge building bustling with people. A mall. One of the worst places on earth.

"Let's go!" Pepper said, walking in front of Natasha. Natasha wondered how she could walk so well in those stilettos of hers.

When they walked in the mall, Natasha's first thought was about how many people there were. The second was about the clothes. Tons and tons of clothes.

"Where should we start?" Pepper asked.

"I honestly have no idea." Natasha said.

"Dresses it is. Follow me." She walked away with Natasha trailing right behind. If Natasha didn't know any better, she could have sworn Pepper lived inside this mall. She knew exactly where everything was and didn't get lost once.

When they reached the dress section, Natasha looked through the racks of dresses, but none of them appealed to her.

"Ooh! What about this one?" Pepper pulled a bright pink dress out.

Natasha shook her head. Pink was definitely not her thing. After a half an hour of searching, Natasha finally found a dress that she liked. 

"Go try it on!" Pepper said, pointing to the dressing rooms.

Natasha obeyed and put the dress on.

The dress was black, lined with thin black lace at the bottom. The neckline was swooped and showed off her collar bone. It was gathered in a flattering way at her waist, making it look smaller then it was. It reached just above her knees.

"Well?" She asked Pepper.

"I love it so freaking much! You should definitely get it." She replied.

Natasha smiled and went back to the changing room to change. Once she was done, Pepper bought the dress for her and took her home.

"Thanks Pepper." She said as they parked in front of the apartment.

Pepper smiled. "Anything for my best friend." 

Natasha froze for a moment. Best friend? She had never had a best friend. 

After saying goodbye to Pepper, she got out of the car and strode back to the apartment. She needed some sleep before tomorrow night.

***

Morning finally came after a restless night. Natasha showered as quickly as she could.

The day passed slowly for her. She wandered around her apartment all day with nothing to do, hoping that tonight would come quickly. But it didn't.

When it finally did come, Natasha was ready two house before Clint was supposed to arrive. She was wearing her new dress with a pair of black sneakers. She curled her hair and put it in a half up half down hairdo. 

Natasha looked at herself in the mirror. She sighed as she wished her appearance looked better.

A knock on the door shook her out of her thoughts. She walked towards the door and opened it, expecting Clint arrived early.

"Hi Cli-" she stopped when she noticed it wasn't Clint. Instead it was Steve.

"Why are you here Steve?" She coldly asked him.

"I came to talk." Was his reply.

She regarded him coldly. "About?" 

He sighed. "I heard about what happened with you and Loki."

'Oh great. This again.' She thought.

"Why did you kiss him?" The rage was obvious in his voice

"I didn't, okay Steve? Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date to go on soon." She said, about to close the door.

But the look on Steve's face twisted something inside of her. He looked just as broken as she felt inside and she didn't know how to react.

"Steve," Natasha's voice was strangely soft, even to her own ears, "I know we're in an argument, but if something is wrong all you need to do is tell me."

Steve solemnly nodded. "It's, uh, it's complicated." He muttered.

"I understand. Is it my fault?" She asked.

"No. It's not. I've just been harsh on you. On everyone in fact. Even Bucky my best friend." He replied.

Natasha's looked into Steve's blue eyes. She saw sadness there, sadness she would never have imagined in him.

She let the silence settle between them, deciding it best to let him speak when he was ready.

Minutes passed and the silence continued, but finally Steve spoke up.

"It's my mother," He started, tears in his eyes. "She's dying from Tuberculosis. We don't have the money to afford medicine for her."

Natasha didn't know what to say. Instead, she walked up to Steve and wrapped her arms around him. She felt him go rigid but, after a short moment, he relaxed.

"I'm so sorry Steve," Natasha whispered when she let go.

"It's not your fault, but thanks anyway," He said. "I should probably go. I don't want to ruin your date."

Natasha nodded. "If you need anything, just ask." 

He half smiled at her and turned to go. She shut the door softly and plopped herself on the couch. Loki was right. Something was wrong in Steve's life. She just wished she could do something about it.

 Finally Clint arrived, forcing Natasha to come out of her saddened state. 

 "So, where are we going?" Natasha asked once they were in the car.

 Clint smirked. "You'll have to wait and see." 

 She sighed in frustration. Turning to the window, she decided to watch her surroundings and try to figure out where they were going. When they pulled into a fancy restaurant, Natasha couldn't help but gasp. She had never set foot in such a place.

 "What's the matter?" Clint asked, a concerned look on his face.

 "Nothing," Natasha said while smiling at him.

 "Well, then, lets go!" He said. 

 Natasha watched him get out of the car. She was about to get out herself when Clint came to her door and opened it for her. 

 "Thanks." she muttered under her breath.

 He nodded and they headed into the building, with her trailing at his heels. 

 "Table for two please." He told the lady at the front desk. She grabbed two menus and led them to a table near the back of the restaurant. She placed the menus on the table and left.

 Natasha opened up her menu and look at all the things there were to eat. "Wow. Pricey." Natasha whispered.

 "Yup." was Clint's quiet reply.

 "How are you going to afford this?" She asked.

 "Well, I might have, uh, borrowed money from Tony." He said, one corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk.

 "You stole money from Stark?" She asked.

 "Shh. You're going to get me in trouble!" He hissed, glancing around the room to make sure no one had heard her.

 "Hmm. Well, I didn't know you would be the type to rob someone." 

 "There's a lot you don't know about me." He said.

 After some talking, the waitress came and they ordered drinks. When she came back again, they ordered dinner.  Finally the nice night was over and Clint drove her home. 

 "Thanks for the date Clint." She smiled at him.

 "Yeah. I quite enjoyed myself tonight. Wanna do it again sometime?"

 "Probably," She smirked.

 They said their goodbyes to each other and Natasha waived as he drove off. She walked up to her apartment and as soon as she got in, she changed into sweats. After turning on a good movie, she fell asleep on the couch.

***


End file.
